Family Research Council Files Brief on Obamacare

The Family Research Council and more than two dozen Republican members of Congress have filed a friend of the court brief with the Supreme Court aimed at overturning Obamacare.

The council brief, which was joined by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith of Texas and 26 other GOP lawmakers, argues that the court should strike down the entire Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, because it requires all Americans to carry health insurance under the threat of financial penalty.

“The ‘individual mandate’ in Obamacare that requires all Americans to have health insurance is unconstitutional,” council attorney Ken Klukowski said in a statement Monday when the brief was filed.

“And for the reasons we explain in this brief, 135 years of Supreme Court precedent show that this is one of those rare instances where striking down the individual-mandate provision requires the Court to strike down this entire 2,700-page law,” he said.

The Obama administration submitted its opening brief to the court last Friday, arguing that the law is necessary to control the rising costs of healthcare nationwide.

The court has accepted four cases challenging the law. Oral arguments are scheduled for March.